Intel has launched its range of secure microprocessors on Monday which feature data locking to protect data from software depending on its restrictions. While its primary aim is to protect mobile computers such as PDA's and mobile phones from viruses and hackers, it can also be used for protecting data ranging from credit card numbers to enforcing anti-piracy measures in music and video files. These devices will feature its PXA27x processor family code-named "Bulverde".
Various hardware manufacturers including Intel are already using another technology code-named "LaGrande" in new desktop PCs. Like Intel's Bulverde mobile version, LaGrande also features
anti-piracy and data protection features . Microsoft is developing software designed for LaGrande to protect audio, video and other content from attack and piracy.
Despite the added content protection capabilities on mobile devices, Bulverde also aims to improve audio and 3D graphics performance. jef195 submitted the following news via our news submit :
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The PXA27x processor family, also known by the code-name "Bulverde", are touted as a solution to the looming threat of mobile computer viruses and hacker attacks. But they will also make it possible to lock music and video files on mobile devices so that they cannot be copied or forwarded. Other new elements include features designed to boost performance and reduce power consumption. Bulverde chips will allow mobile phone makers to design programs that store valuable data, such as credit card information, within a cryptographically protected "vault" inside the chip. This is to prevent other software programs from accessing the data without express permission from the user. Computer viruses and other malicious code should then be less able to cause significant damage. Anti-piracy Intel and other hardware and software firms have already started producing personal computers that protect data in a similar way. The desktop chip technology is code-named "LaGrande". Microsoft is developing software that will work with LaGrande to protect files. But some observers see this as part of a strategy to make personal computers more amenable to anti-piracy measures, at the behest of the entertainment industry. This is because specially designed music or video files could use the protected portions of these chips to restrict users' ability to copy or forward them. Some critics say such restrictions unfairly encroach upon computer user's rights to control their own machines. Read the full article here. |
While the primary aim of a PC has been to allow a user to automate tasks and control stuff, it looks like it is coming to a stage where the PC will be controlling the user! I find it is rather unfair for a person's PC to say what the owner is or is not allowed to do just to stay within the law. It is like owning a car that forces the driver to obey speed limits, road rules and every other rule of the road. While this will likely prevent the driver from ever getting a penalty, it would make the driver feel as if a driving instructor is watching every move they make and always telling them what to do. The same goes with enforcing anti-piracy measures on consumer PCs.
Source: New Scientist
